The engine liquid cooling systems of most new automobiles are quickly filled at the manufacturing facility by special power equipment to supply measured quantities of solutions of ethylene glycol antifreeze, corrosion inhibitors, and water. Such coolant solutions provide full engine and coolant system protection over a wide range of temperatures experienced by a vehicle from very cold through extremely hot weather operations. The rust preventing and lubricating agents of the solution further protects the radiator, water pump and other components in the coolant system.
Since the corrosion protection system in the coolant has a finite life, changing the engine coolant in field service is necessary and is generally done by manually adding fluid directly into the system. Such field service, in contrast to powered factory fill, is usually a lengthy and inefficient process. Moreover, if close attention is not observed, such field service may result in an incomplete filling of the cooling system.
When adding coolant solution to a closed engine cooling system in the field, the pressure cap is removed from the filler neck of the radiator or from the deareation chamber of an auxiliary coolant container or bottle and replacement coolant is poured into the filler neck thereof. The space in the radiator or bottle immediately below the filler neck fills up quickly as the added volume of coolant slowly flows into the rest of the cooling system. When the observed level in the radiator or deareation chamber finally recedes to an appropriate level, additional volumes of coolant are added with additional service time spent waiting for the system to become appropriately filled. This prior slow field filling process is even more inefficient when the entire system is drained and replaced by a new solution. In some vehicles, particularly those with stylized low hood lines and where there is minimized space to locate coolant bottles at elevated positions, such field service may take several hours for a complete fill with replacement coolant.
Prior to the present invention, various constructions have been devised to aid in the field servicing of liquid cooling systems for internal combustion engines particularly those in automotive vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,396,606 issued Nov. 8, 1921, and 2,811,181 issued Oct. 29, 1957, are drawn to special funnel constructions for aid in directly filling automotive radiators with vent pipes with liquid coolant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,585, issued Jan. 22, 1985, is drawn to a specialized funnel having a primary vent and an auxiliary vent/siphon aid for use in adding coolant to radiators having filling openings which are inclined to the vertical plane.
While these prior constructions provide advantages in adding coolant to automotive cooling systems with reduced spillage, they do not meet higher standards for field service with improving the flow rate of coolant to the system of an internal combustion engine to materially reduce fill time. Moreover, these prior constructions do not provide for removal of the filling aid from the filler neck of the coolant system with substantially no spillage after the system has been filled.